1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a user interface for domestic appliances, particularly for cooking ovens, comprising input and display for showing menus and items selected by the user through the input.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known in the art of domestic appliances to use electronic user interfaces with buttons or with a touch control panel in order to set functions and/or parameters according to the user's choice. There exist many styles of input devices for consumer products; in domestic appliances are mainly used knobs and switches, buttons and touch screens. Each technology has advantage and disadvantages that are taken in consideration in designing a new appliance. By pressing a button or by touching a zone of the touch control panel the user can set his choices.
The use of a touch sensitive display in domestic appliances, particularly in cooking appliances, presents the disadvantage of easily soiling the display if this latter is touched with not perfectly clean fingers. This can cause problems in reading correctly the various parameters and/or functions to be chosen by the user. In view of the several choices of parameters/functions of a modern appliance, it is often necessary to use big displays that have a negative impact on the overall cost of the appliance.